Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker has just announced he will not appear before the House Judiciary Committee Friday unless Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) promises to not use a subpoena to compel his testimony.
Chairman Nadler is expected to apply for a subpoena Thursday as a pre-emptive measure in case Whitaker does not show or invokes executive privilege. Nadler has worked to appear extraordinarily fair and respectful by submitting a list of questions to the Acting Attorney General two weeks ago, and by telling him in a public letter he must give the Committee 48 hours advance notice if he plans on invoking executive privilege, The Daily Beast reports.
“I remain willing to appear to testify tomorrow, provided that the chairman assures me that the committee will not issue a subpoena today or tomorrow, and that the committee will engage in good faith negotiations before taking such a step down the road,” Whitaker said in a statement, as The Washington Post Reports.
Playing hardball, Whitaker also gave the Committee a deadline of 6 PM Thursday to respond to his demand.
Whitaker, a former CNN commentator, is accusing House Democrats on the Judiciary Committee of engaging in “political theater,” which he says he will not allow.
“I remain willing to appear to testify tomorrow, provided that the chairman assures me that the committee will not issue a subpoena today or tomorrow, and that the committee will engage in good faith negotiations before taking such a step down the road,” Whitaker also said in his statement.
Democrats plan to question Whitaker about his refusal to recuse himself from Special Counsel Mueller’s Russia investigation, and his conversations with President Donald Trump. Before the President fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions and appointed Whitaker Acting AG, he was Sessions’ Chief of Staff, and reportedly the President’s mole inside the Dept. of Justice.